2016 Bamboo in the Urban Environment Symposium

With support from a US State Department IIE Global Innovation Institute (GII) award, a Symposium entitled Bamboo in the Urban Environment was held at the University of Pittsburgh May 4-6, 2016. The symposium and GII project brings together leading experts to enable the safe use of bamboo in urban centers. The resulting collaborative research – involving engineering, architecture and forestry researchers from around the world – has significant technical and social relevance through its potential to reduce the cost and environmental impact of safe housing for a significant proportion of the world’s population. This work addresses the global grand challenges of urbanization and resilience in the face of natural hazards and climate change through facilitating the use of a renewable ‘green’ material.

Participation in the symposium was by invitation – 40 participants, representing 14 countries and territories attended. The World Bamboo Organization was there, represented by architect Andrew Linn, of Washington, D.C. Technical presentations and the keynote lecture were recorded and archived allowing access by the broadest possible international audience. You can view these presentations, here.